Lowbrow Beers with Friends in High Places

Olympia has one of the best beer taglines around — “It’s the Water.” Evel Knievel was sponsored by Olympia Beer through much of the height of his career, and the “Clearwater” in Creedence Clearwater Revival comes from an old Olympia advertising campaign. Although the original Tumwater brewery was closed in 2003, Olympia is still available through Pabst Brewing Co.

In 1963, the first American to summit Mt. Everest (Jim Whittaker — a Seattle native) brought a can of Rainier with him. The original brewery dates all the way back to 1854 when it opened under the name “The Washington Brewery,” which was Seattle’s first ever commercial brewing company. Today, it’s sold primarily in the Pacific Northwest.

“One of the World’s Finest Beers” — Lucky Lager was first brewed at The General Brewing Company in San Francisco in 1934. It featured a distinctive red “X” logo, and advertised with the San Francisco Seals through the 30s, 40s, and 50s. In 2019, Pabst announced that 21st Amendment Brewing would be reviving the brand.